florantha - yes, I would want to protect the range from traffic more than in that last layout. The suggestions of opening up the long wall on the left are interesting, I don't think they are right for our family. We do want to keep a table in the kitchen and upon reflection, I don't really want the kitchen completely open to the family room since a little separation is nice when friends are over and the kids are watching a movie in there. I do think that the thoughts are ideas that could inspire other readers in their own planning. I am leaning toward option C (last) in the original post, but I am a little hesitant about the fridge location. I like it along the back wall because it leaves the sides of the room more open, giving more of a feeling of connection to the family room and to the outside through the window on the right wall. The room is long and my idea was to place the bulky fridge to shorten the room, not narrow it. Placing the fridge on the back wall in the corner also allows room for a bigger (deeper) fridge without interfering with traffic in the room - I'd like to maximize my fridge space without going to the expense of a large built in. But I also know that it's preferable to have the fridge on the perimeter of the kitchen. The proposed location would not drive traffice through the prep and cooking area, but perhaps it's still a bad plan? Feedback would be appreciated. For Layout C, the shallow pantry on the left side of the room is 12" cupboards, the space from there to the island is 41", the island is 41" wide, and the space from the island to the cleanup sink is 48". I've pulled the counters on the back wall so that the counters would be 30". Sorry not to have added these dimensions to the drawings.

just my 2 cents.. i currently have the set up of your first drawing. where you have the pantry i have a wall to the living room, i put a 6 inch deep 5 foot high free standing shelf along the wall (easy to make) and i keep anything in glass jars on that, i have a reach in pantry.(where your deck is i have a bed room with a bathroom next to it, door facing the kitchen, and the pantry is between the bedroom and bath), the shelf i have is narrow enough not to impede the entry next to the peninsula, and it keeps me from worrying about having a glass jar break in the pantry, everyone who sees it thinks its a great idea (i keep remains of boxes of pasta in canning jars etc). my kitchen is open to the dining room, which no one who i see with this design uses as a dining room because the walk way to the sliding glass doors eventually takes precedence (Florida = Lani), or if they do, the table is pushed up against the wall which leaves seating for 4. i also have a slim cabinet and a semi-corner upper cabinet(s) on the wall to the right of the sink,my dish washer is in the spot of your original drawing, i have a lazy susan corner on the bottom in the corner. The over hang of the upper cabinets makes a spot to park the appliances with a clean up area right next to the sink which keeps things from sprawling, i have a set of drawers instead of a cabinet on the outside of the dishwasher, very handy.. . It seems to me that some people are sit-down-at-the-table types and some are more casual island eaters.. when my daughter was younger we used the large area of the peninsula to make bread and such from the dining room side, that way she could sit up and reach and it was a nice area to use for lots of things. the actual work flow on this for me is parking the grocery's on the peninsula and on flat stove top to load fridge, the biggest problem i have is with the microwave. first had it on the Pinn but if two people were in the kitchen there would be an issue with doing anything with the sink, i moved it to the other side of the sink, between it and the stove, its a better location but it uses up a lot of room and its awkward to get things in and out, for that reason alone i liked the idea of a microwave area. it looks like you currently have a microwave installed in the wall next to the fridge? My neighbor put his on the counter and then made a huge space above for an appliance garage, (think just one big shelf), you'd only have to close off the underside of the stairs really; the cool thing is he used a painting hinged on the corner side as a door. i would say live with it for a minuet first, and then if you were going to do anything i'd put a pantry at the end of the room like in the 3-D model Anna has, also the peninsula, if you are not going to use that room then you might want to shorten it, mine is a bit tight and the other issue is where to put the trash.. if you are an under the sink person then fine, but otherwise i ended up putting it at the end of the peninsula, now its tucked under on the outer side with a stool in front. what is really amazing is that so many people spent so much of their time to help you with this, and that i actually sat here and read each post.. it had a coffee table conversation feel to it, very well done everybody :) best of luck with the new home, the only other thing i would say is, you have to decide if you and SO need a break from the stress of actually buying the house before you start tearing it up (warning: only do ONE ROOM at a time) or if you are the kind of folk who like to get it all out of the way so you can be done with it.. may your home always be filled with love (and big ideas).. Lin

Hi - sorry about your tooth! I hope everything is ok. I have been trying to think about how we prep/cook/clean up now and you bring up some good points. Currently, we have a galley and the sink is opposite the cooktop so I am used to that. It's small so I have 3.5' on one side of the sink and less than 2' on the other side and that is IT for prep/clean up/whatever else :) The cooktop is flanked by our wall oven and refrigerator and has less than 12" on either side (1962 codes!). Originally, we had planned to have the main sink in the island and then an eating nook under the windows and probably no prep sink. We couldn't make the nook work so then ended up with counters there and it made more sense, or so we thought, to move the main sink to look out the windows and to free up the island. I kind of assumed I'd do a lot of the work at the island and would get a bigger prep sink. However, now that I walk through those scenarios it seems kind of weird because the dishwasher will be on the other wall. For instance, making school lunches - I was going to have a drawer for their containers/boxes in the island, but assuming I use a knife and cutting board, would I then wash the cutting board in the prep sink but move the knife to the main sink? Seems odd. Am I over thinking this? I also envisioned prepping dinner at the island and on the range while my kids do homework on the other side. Regarding husbands, it's great having one who likes to cook even if he doesn't have much time for it :) After seeing a brief demo, and thinking about what we eat, it started to make sense. We steam or roast vegetables most nights and then grill or roast some type of meat/fish/chicken, etc. He fell in love with the Miele automation but I am skeptical that I will take the time to really learn it, especially once school starts up and our schedule gets busy. The Electrolux was my choice for a regular oven! We also seriously consider the Electrolux gas range. We still have time so am hopping to go to some of the combi steam oven classes or demos before making a final decision. It must feel good to have your appliances mostly decided. Have you started your project already?

The thing about moving the closet is that there is no other closet on the first floor. No coat closet, nothing. So this would be the only place for coats, vacuum cleaner, etc. Not to mention that it's old school plaster so expensive to demo out. If we removed it, what should we put in its place? The fridge with cabinets next to it?